Foolproof and Flow get together

We’ve joined forces with Flow Interactive creating Europe’s largest
specialist UX agency, with 70 staff and initial turnover in excess of
£5.5m per annum. This places the combined business within the top 50*
UK digital agencies, based on the recent 2010 New Media Age league
table.

The Foolproof and Flow brands are both retained. The expanded
business will operate out of two sites: Flow’s existing home at 90-98
Goswell Road, EC1 will become the consolidated London base of the two
companies, and Foolproof’s current Norwich office will be retained.

Foolproof’s Peter Ballard and Tom Wood will be majority shareholders
of the expanded business, whilst Flow’s owner Meriel Lenfestey will join
the shareholder board of Foolproof.

Peter Ballard, Joint Managing Partner of Foolproof, said: “After
eight years of successful organic growth, and fresh from our best-ever
year, joining forces with Flow will take the business to a completely
new level. It will help us capitalise on the clear trend for UX insight
and customer-driven innovation to sit right at the heart of clients’
decision-making processes, which gives us a key strategic role within
their businesses.

This hugely exciting move will make us Europe’s biggest UX agency,
and gives us the capabilities and critical mass to become a truly global
force in the digital experience design space.”

Meriel Lenfestey, Founder and CEO of Flow, commented: “Combining two
successful experience design businesses delivers a great result for the
clients, staff and shareholders of both companies. This has very much
been reflected in the positive feedback we’ve already received.

This is very much a move for growth. Our greater capacity means we
can continue to deliver the very highest levels of quality in experience
design support to our clients, while ensuring that we also capitalise
on the many new business opportunities currently coming our way, both in
the UK and from overseas.”

There are not expected to be any job losses as a result of the deal –
in fact the continued high demand for insight-driven design expertise
means that there are immediate vacancies within the account management
and UX consultancy teams.

*£5.5m annual turnover would have placed the combined business within
the top 50 UK digital agencies based on the latest New Media Age league
table.